“I really think that the civil rights movement in it’s effort to expand has excluded some of the people that it originally designed to help and that’s low income people of all races. I didn’t hear poor people mentioned at all very much [on Saturday]. It was the environmentalists, women, gays, and immigrants. Everybody except poor people. The next frontier for me in the civil rights movement, is what are we doing for the least of God’s children. Everybody has come in front of them on the bus: gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists. We never hear about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general.” – Bob Woodson, speaking yesterday at a Republican National Committee luncheon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March On Washington. Woodson’s comments earned him a standing ovation from GOP leaders.
RELATED: Noting the criticisms of Woodson’s comments, Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo rushes to his defense via press release.
“I was at yesterday’s event, and on my feet with everyone else in the room applauding Mr. Woodson for his bold remarks. His words weren’t meant to diminish the importance of the gay rights movement at all. In context, his speech was an indictment of a culture in the United States of zero-sum morality where one cause takes money, media, and attention away from others. 50 years out from the famed March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and black unemployment is at 12.6% today. 44 years out from Stonewall and gay men and women face discrimination and murder because of who they are. There’s no reason we should work to achieve one victory at the expense of another.”